You know you’re a writer when hypocritical posers in coffee shops that spend their time making memes about how writers know they are writers — when the checks start rolling in, start to critisize you and then get angry; angry for realizing that you don’t care what they think, because your fictional characters are more fun and meaningful than their opinions of your success — or how much money you make.

I’ve seen a writer torn to shreds and quit writing based on the opinions of others. Every writer know this. If your fingers touch the keyboard, if you strive to be creative, if you are open to learn new tricks of the trade, and if you’re willing to push yourself for your story — you will have a good story and you’ll be a better writer day by day.

That’s what being a writer is.

Being able to pay your rent with your writing is about being a good business man (or woman). Edgar Allen Poe went his entire life without being famous and was well under the radar. Emily Dickenson only published seven poems while she was alive. Make no mistake, these people were writers before they died, and they weren’t living in mansions either.

If you write, you’re a writer. It’s very important to me that this message is made clear. I was too chicken to tell someone off back in 2001 when I watched him laugh at a poor young girl that wrote great fiction, and I promised myself that I would never let anyone else suffer the same fate again if I could help it. Success isn’t a proper measure of your ability to create and produce.

It’s imperative that nobody be let down based on the success of others’. I encourage everyone that want’s to be a writer to write. And when you’re done with the first chapter, you are a writer. Continue being a writer; write the books, stories, poems, and messages and pay no attention to the haters. What they’re doing is hating, what you are doing is creating entire worlds. And if you get famous, remember, you were a writer a looooonnngggg time before those checks came in and you should encourage everyone who wants to be a writer, to be a writer.